Week 2 Story: Beauty and the Prince

Beauty and the Prince

Once upon a time, there was a woman and her two daughters. There was an event that was going on in the next town over, so the mother decided that she would go. The town was known for their fashionable jewelry, so she asked the daughters if they would like her to bring them something back.

One of the daughters, who was rather high-maintenance, said “yes, I would love a diamond necklace and maybe a bracelet, if they have one!” The mother loved her daughter to pieces, so she agreed.

The other daughter, Emily, was rather shy. She replied, “If you have the time to gather them, I would like three roses. I love flowers, but they never grow in this town.”  The mother replied, “Of course, Emily. I will bring you back three roses.”

The mother left her hometown and headed for the next town over. On her way there, a heavy storm blew in. It was so violent that it seemed to shake the ground. The trees were blowing viciously, and the sky was black as night. Through the thickness of the rain, the mother lost track of the trail. She ended up in the front lawn of a huge castle. The castle was dark, the windows were closed, and there were eerie sounds coming from the trees surrounding her. She knew that someone bad must live there.

The mother turned around and began to run, but then out of the corner of her eye, she spotted a beautiful rose garden. She immediately thought of Emily and she knew that she needed to gather three roses for her. The mother ran over to the garden, picked the roses, and began running back towards the trail.

Then all of a sudden, she was attacked from behind. A huge, hairy beast landed on top of her and let out a ferocious growl. The beast was at least seven feet tall, with huge teeth and a deathly look in his eyes. The mother thought she would never see her daughters again.

The mother tried to explain that the roses were for her daughter and that she promises she will leave and never come back. The beast said, “Take the roses and bring me your daughter!” Then the beast ran into the darkness and the mother ran off towards the trail.

When the mother arrived home, the daughters were so happy to see her. But the look in their mother’s eyes was frightening. The mother said, “Emily, I came across a castle where I found these roses. I picked them, and started to come home, but I was attacked. There was a huge, unbelievable monster. He told me that if I do not send you back to him, that he would find our family. I am afraid he will hurt us.”

Emily looked at her mother and said, “Mother, I will not go. If he comes here, we will fight and he will not be able to hurt us.”

Although the mother thought this was a crazy idea, she admired Emily’s braveness. Emily did not leave; they simply waited to see if the beast would come.

Three days later, the alarms sounded throughout the entire town. The mother looked at the daughters and said, “I think he’s here.” They ran to the windows and saw a huge beast walking through their town square. Men were set up in all the corners of the town with large rifles pointed at the beast.

The beast growled deafeningly, and the men began to shoot. However, the bullets did nothing. They did not seem to harm the beast. He began to run on four legs towards the home of Emily. When he arrived, Emily opened the door. The beast simply stood there, and Emily could sense the loneliness and hurt inside him. “You don’t have to do this,” Emily said. “I can see right through you.”

The beast tried to scare Emily, but he quickly noticed that the intimidation was not working on her. She was different. So he looked into her eyes and he said, “this is the first time that someone does not run with fear when they look at me. All I have wanted was for someone to be kind to me and not judge me by my appearance.”

Emily smiled, and all of a sudden, the beast transformed into a handsome prince. He looked into Emily’s eyes and said, “I had a curse placed on me. Until I found someone who appreciated me for who I am, I would remain a beast. You saw right through the hairy monster with large teeth.”

Because of Emily’s love and kindness, she was able to see through someone’s flaws. She invited the price into her home, and they fell in love. Six months later, they though a huge wedding and she moved into his castle. Instead of a dark, dreary castle, Emily turned it into a lively, colorful palace with music playing in the square and people dancing. And they lived happily ever after.

Author's Note:

The original story was called The Three Roses, written by Josef Baudis. In The Three Roses, the mother went to a market in the next town over, and she promised one of her daughters that she would bring her back three roses. The mother got lost, ran into a palace, and ran into a basilisk. The basilisk said that she had to bring her daughter to him. The mother returned home, and told her daughter to go to the palace. Mary left for the palace. Then, the basilisk became close to the daughter. But then one day, he asked Mary to cut his head off. At first she denied it, but then she did. A snake came out of the body. Then the snake asked her to cut his head off again. Mary did, and then he turned into a beautiful youth and they got married. 

I changed the story in a way where the daughter did not leave to go to the palace. I know that if I was in that situation, I would not have gone to the castle. I decided to change the theme a little bit so that the idea of the story was kindness and seeing past someone's imperfections.

Bibliography:

"The Three Roses" from The Key of Gold by Josef Baudis (1922). Web Source.

Image information: 

Beauty and the Beast by Jennie Harbour